{"id":4366,"date":"2021-05-21T20:24:04","date_gmt":"2021-05-22T00:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sullyonsports.com\/?p=4366"},"modified":"2021-05-21T20:24:04","modified_gmt":"2021-05-22T00:24:04","slug":"overtime-whats-the-frequency-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sullyonsports.com\/?p=4366","title":{"rendered":"Overtime: What’s the Frequency, Baseball?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in June 2020.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We regret to inform you that, during a global pandemic that has killed over 115,000 Americans and left at least 21 million people unemployed, Major League Baseball\u2019s players and owners are squabbling over money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, in a half-hearted attempt to restart its season, the league submitted yet another proposal \u2014 its fourth in the past three weeks \u2014 to the players. This process was somehow necessary despite the two sides agreeing in late March that the players would receive fully-prorated compensation over the course of an 82-game season. This would have amounted to all players receiving roughly half of their salary for the 2020 season, which would have lasted 162 games were it not for the current public health emergency. The players rejected this proposal and did not counter<\/a>, opening the door for commissioner Rob Manfred to unilaterally impose a schedule between 48 and 54 games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, with the season looking like it will be played predominantly in empty stadiums \u2014 27 U.S. states are currently seeing upticks in coronavirus cases<\/a> \u2014 the league\u2019s owners have recalibrated, with multiple offers designed to strip the players of further pay. The league\u2019s first proposal, which would have established tiered pay cuts for all of the league\u2019s players, shocked and angered many of the league\u2019s most well-known stars. Three offers later, the two sides are hardly any closer, and there\u2019s no need to rehash every offer and counteroffer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The owners\u2019 original proposal would have netted the players, on average, 31.3% of their original salaries. Three weeks of \u201cnegotiations\u201d later, the league\u2019s latest proposal \u2014 a 72-game season at 80% proration if the postseason is played and 70% proration if a second wave of COVID-19 wipes out the playoffs in October<\/a> \u2014 would net the players somewhere between 31.1% and 36.9% of their original 2020 salaries. The league originally planned on returning July 4, a date loaded with symbolism for our country and its pastime. Instead, players are now preparing for a 48-game season, one that would feature far less competitive integrity than one of 70-80 games, let alone 162. For example, the Washington Nationals, the sport\u2019s defending champions, started last season 19-31. The Detroit Tigers also started the year with the same record over 50 games; at the end of the year, they had the league\u2019s worst record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you can probably tell by the way I have written this article so far, I am far more inclined to blame the owners for this situation than the players. The sides had a previous agreement, and while the owners have argued that they would lose upwards of $600,000 per game<\/a> without fans in the stands, they should have planned for that back in March, as the virus was never going to magically disappear. However, I\u2019m not interested in spending this entire space regurgitating things that have already been said by those smarter than myself. Instead, let\u2019s talk about why the owners\u2019 and players\u2019 failure to reach an agreement is detrimental to the sport\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball\u2019s recent history has been marred by labor discord. In 1981, a midseason strike forced a piecemeal postseason that split the year in two and rewarded first and second-half \u201cwinners\u201d; the league\u2019s best team, the Cincinnati Reds, missed the playoffs under this system<\/a>. In 1994, the sport lost the World Series and the final two months of its season due to a players\u2019 strike. Rob Manfred, MLB\u2019s current commissioner, was then-commissioner Bud Selig\u2019s right-hand man throughout the \u201994 dispute, which got so bad that it went all the way to the top of the U.S. government<\/a>. In 2002, the two sides reached an 11th hour agreement to avoid the same outcome as eight years prior; that negotiation was also ugly and included the possibility of the league folding the Montreal Expos (now the Nationals) and the Minnesota Twins before judge Seymour Crimp stepped in<\/a>. That being said, despite all of those public negotiations of incredibly bad faith, the sport hasn\u2019t permanently alienated fans<\/a>. This, however, feels different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, there\u2019s nothing (yet) to take our minds off what is going on. When baseball abdicated summer\u2019s final weeks in the summer of 1994, sports fans knew that football was on the horizon and that basketball and hockey would soon follow. Now, there is no guarantee that any of those sports will return. The NBA has a tentative plan to come back with 22 of its 30 teams in Orlando, Florida<\/a>, but the state has reported at least 1,000 COVID-19 cases each day<\/a> since that plan was announced. Some of the league\u2019s players are also concerned about staying in a bubble for three months<\/a> strictly for our entertainment in the midst of such societal unrest. The NHL also has a plan to come back, but the league isn\u2019t opening all of its facilities until July 10<\/a>, to say nothing of the league\u2019s heavy presence in Canada, a country whose border with the U.S. is still closed to non-essential travel<\/a>. Major League Soccer is slated to return on July 8<\/a> with an intriguing World Cup-style format highlighting the \u201cMLS is Back\u201d tournament, but the league is planning to play at the same Wide World of Sports facility the NBA wants to use in a state hard-hit by the virus. The WNBA sent a proposal for a 22-game regular season<\/a> \u2014 with players receiving their full salaries \u2014 that would start on July 24. Improbably, with the health situation in Florida, hockey\u2019s slow return and baseball\u2019s haggling, it could be the first of these sports to return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this is not to say that baseball won\u2019t face these same challenges. If the league cannot play its games or is forced to modify its plans because of coronavirus outbreaks, fans would accept that outcome as unavoidable. However, with other leagues returning throughout July, health-permitting, the sport had a golden opportunity to return before all of them. Instead, its owners and players fought over money as many Americans struggle to make ends meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a sports fan, who\u2019s to say baseball will get all of its fans back this time around? Even if there is a season, and it looks like there will be one, many fans including myself have been severely turned off by the two sides negotiating through reporters and bickering through the media. If your choice is between a month-long soccer tournament, expanded playoffs in both the NBA and NHL or a 48-game baseball season that not all of the sport\u2019s players will be on board with, I don\u2019t think many of you are choosing the latter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what we have now is the product of 40 years of labor strife, and that doesn\u2019t take a break for pandemics, no matter how dire the present situation is. If the sport\u2019s two sides can\u2019t figure it out this time, the sport risks fading further into oblivion, an outcome it will have earned through weeks of willfully avoiding a solution to its problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in June 2020. We regret to inform you that, during a global pandemic that has killed over 115,000 Americans and left at least 21 million people unemployed, Major League Baseball\u2019s players and owners are squabbling over money. On Friday, in a half-hearted attempt to restart its … <\/p>\n

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